Life and Society in the Hittite World .~•. TREVOR BRYCE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ~ ! [tI ~. <: cr"e:; B: ,..,61 ~~ , "- ~'O 0" ~ ~(j~~0. 0 (") _. ,;g'" ::>-0­ 0. 'O~.'" - ~ ;; ~ ~~ ~ '" _·ca Ul p.;. '" 0'"1""0 .., "-< ..., o..p,)(p=: (1) c,:.-.,\b ::> '" " OJ '" 0 "''0 o· ;. '0'0 s- ~ ~ s· '0..., 1JQ ~ .....,..,~ 3 ~ ." 7: 0 ><_. 3- . _.0 ~ ::l ~ __ 3 OJ QQ~{i" OJ ~ t'"­ 0. c; ~. aug o.rn ::to 2 '"0 0. -.0'" -2., 2.':<! 0- ~ C 2:. -,0 if> o ::> ~ (1) -.<' ""1:_. =.OJ B. OJ'" ::> ­ '" C 0...., ~ ~ 0. ~. !!. -'QQ ~ '7i ::t 0.::0 c: '" S' N 2:.", ,z'" '"tl, ~ \C '< ~(i 00 ::> 1" QQ r::r R if> ... (1) ~ OJ :..> (1) n VI ;>;" !;l:) """I ... c; '< '" ~ 0 0­ :e " 0­ ,z (1) '8, ::0 R Vi'- 0\ VI ::> 3' '0 0 ~ 'f B I a c k Sea o ~Mediterranean Sea SYRIAN DESERT o 200km Babylon\. Map r. The World of the Hittites Introduction Some 28 kilometres east of the city of Izmir on Turkey's western coast, there is a mountain pass called Karabel. Overlooking the pass ~ ~~ .:. is a relief cut in the face of the rock. It depicts a male human figure <> /6 armed with bow and spear, and sword with crescent-shaped ~r f) ?> j <l.) OJ) pommel. On his head is a tall peaked cap. A weathered inscrip­ ] '9 r;: ~.E <: tion provides information about him-for those able to read it. - i.( /~ <l.) N Herodotos visited the monument in the fifth century Be. He des­ ~ .\,'11'> \. i"­ =o .... cribes it in his Histories and provides a translation of the inscription i"-sS'4.;&«' Q':l \ E which, he declares, is written in the sacred script of Egypt: 'With my l .. o~ j own shoulders I won this land: The conqueror does not tell us his <l.) h I:'l'" \ ~~'{'.'), ~ -5 name, but his costume is part Egyptian, part Ethiopian, and he is to " -.;;;- ~ -< :": ~ ... f" ...., ... '3 ~ " c;:; .S... be identified with Sesostris, prince of Egypt-at least that is what f:..,.'X:' < rr, "E~ ~ '-' ,-s::: "'",.~ .. lk~, ... '" c;:! Herodotos would have us believe! "f:jVJ'=' ",,'Y:G -5l -, Q p:,) f:1~ • a ~. ,til " .... c;:! Twenty-three centuries later, in the year 1834, a French <l.) :JfSA:' ~ " ~ J-10. '@~ z adventurer-explorer called Charles Texier is searching in central ~ "\.\.~a <l.) Turkey for the remains of a Celtic city called Tavium, referred .~"\. t5 to in Roman sources. The locals tell him of some ancient ruins N ISO kilometres east of Ankara. Texier visits the ruins. They are vast­ »3-=C> ~ ~ far exceeding in size anything described in Classical sources. One of II:.. the entrance gates to the city bears a relief of a warrior-armed, Cl beardless, with long hair, wearing a tasselled helmet and a kilt. Texier II:" ..... .. is mystified. It is like no other figure known from the ancient world . ... " The locals tell him that there are more figures nearby. They lead him " I:'l to an outcrop of rock, about thirty minutes' walk from the ruins. This ... brings further surprises. The rock walls are decorated with relief " VJ sculptures-processions of human figures clothed in strange gar­ ~ ~ ::;iJl ments, of hitherto unknown types. 'llie reliefs are accompanied by mysterious inscriptions, totally unintelligible. 'lliey can be neither read nor identified. But they are dubbed 'hieroglyphic' because of a superficial resemblance to the hieroglyphic script of Egypt. The whole thing remains a bewildering mystery. We move forward four decades, to the year 1876. In London a N""';"·"''IIIII¥~·~lIIii''''Jl.~.IIIJIJ!;''JL.jjl£I£i••••••• ___________ The Gods 135 the minds and hearts of all his creatures, and for this reason the true CHAPTER 8 believer does not need to make tangible demonstration of his devo­ tion with gifts or other material goods in order to secure the god's The Gods favours. 'An Extreme Form ofPolytheism' In place of a single omnipresent, all-knowing deity, the Hittites Divine Lords, lend me your ear, and listen to these my believed that the world was populated by a multitude, indeed a And the words which I will make into a plea to the Divine plenitude, of spirits and divine forces. The whole cosmos throbbed Lords, these words, Divine Lords, accept and listen to them!! with supernatural life. Gods inhabited the realms above and below the earth. And on the earth every rock, mountain, tree, spring, and Quite apart from other considerations, monotheistic religions like river had its resident god or spirit. These were not mere abstractions, Christianity, JUdaism, and Islam have one great advantage over their but vital living entities. Even substances like silver and fire were polytheistic counterparts: communication with one's god is gener­ regarded as conscious living forces endowed with human emotions: a much simpler, more straightforward process, Worshippers in a 'The fire, the son of the Sun God, bore ill will, and it came to the point multi-godded world have to deal with a plethora of deities, and con­ that he went forth into the dark night, he slid into the dark night, and stantly run the risk of incurring divine wrath by failing to identify he coiled himself together like a serpent.,3 which specific one needs supplicating or placating on a particular The Hittites were polytheists in the fullest possible sense. By the occasion. And when appeal is made to a number of gods, there is time of the New Kingdom they practised what has been referred to always the danger of inadvertently leaving out one or two, who will as an extreme form of polytheism.4 To begin with, local Hattic deities certainly take offence. Nor is there any clearly developed sense of predominated, but with the political and military expansion of the divine omnipresence. In the Hittite religious milieu the worshipper Hittite world, the divine ranks of the pantheon were swelled by new had to be sure that a deity was on hand and actually listening when a members, many of whom were the gods of the city states and king­ prayer was offered up to him or her, so that the prayer would not go doms that had succumbed to the military might of Hatti. The act of astray. The deity's current whereabouts might be unknown. removing the statues of the local gods and relocating them in the Elaborate rituals might be necessary to entice him or her to the place temples of the conqueror physically marked the transference of where his or her services were required. Special priests or ritualists these gods to the conqueror's pantheon.s No longer could they be 2 were often employed for the task of divine evocati0 -god­ summoned by the conquered, for the material casings into which botherers in the true sense of the word. Sometimes extensive, they entered had now been removed to another land. Tn effecting time-consuming oracular enquiry was needed to determine which this transfer, the conqueror showed all due respect and deference to god's wrath was being vented 011 the community, and his newly acquired gods, and perhaps it was regular practice for him Further, a multitude of gods require a multitude of temples and to go through a process of seeking the gods' consent for their trans­ temple personnel, and a constant flow of gifts and sacrifices as ference." For their goodwill had to be secured if henceforth they rewards for services rendered or promised, or to ensure that services were to extend their protection over, and generally act in the in­ are not withheld. Monotheistic worshippers are spared much of this. terests the land of their new worshippers. Their god is both omnipresent and omniscient. Prayers can be In this land they retained their individual identities, even if they offered to him at any place and at any time. Churches or synagogues were identical in function and character and name with the gods or mosques may be built and rituals performed in his honour. But of other conquered territories, or gods already long established in these are non-essential trappings, for the omniscient god can see into the conqueror's homeland. Thus there were a plethora of Storm 136 The Gods The Gods 137 Gods, of Sun Gods, of lshtars or Ishtar-equivalents.7 All were or Puduhepa, wife of Hattusili Ill, embarked on a major review became members of the Hittite divine assemblage and were differ­ of religious practices and traditions throughout the Hittite world, entiated merely by adding to their names their local places oforigin. and began rationalizing the pantheon by establishing syncretisms The result was an enormously complex, unsystematic, and some­ between some of its chief deities, in particular identifying Hittite times thoroughly confusing agglomeration of deities making gods with their Hurrian counterparts. Thus the great Storm God s the pantheon. In this respect the Hittites went far beyond the rela­ of Hatti was now formally equated with Teshub. His consort (as tively systematic pantheons of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian recognized in the official state cult) the Sun Goddess of Arinna, worlds. And they took great pride in doing so. Their boast that Hatti chief female deity of the Hittite world, was equated with Hurrian was 'the land of a thousand gods' was hardly an exaggerated Hepat, as reflected in the opening lines of the queen's prayer to the one. Palaic gods from northern Anatolia, gods from the Luwian goddess: '0 Sun Goddess of Arinna, My Lady, Queen of all regions of western and southern Anatolia,9 Hurrian gods,gods taken countries! You are called "Sun Goddess of Arinna" in the Land of from a whole range of cult centres in Mesopotamia and Syria Hatti, but in the coun-try which you have made the cedar land you were all added into the Hittite pantheon, so that eventually the are called "Hepat".,ll majority of the pantheon was of foreign origin.